Tracking the Nanny's phone?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your prospective new employers want to track your movements when you are working and with your children? Is that the situation?

What about when you are not working - will they still be able to track your location?

My soon-to-be employers (job has been offered, contract signed) want me to install an spp like "Find my iPhone" or "find my friends" so that they can track my phone via the GPS that the app uses. I'm assuming they want to know where I am at all times when I am working and caring for their child. I'm sure they would say they wouldn't track me during my off hours, but what would stop then?

Yeah, I understand - your should insist on a separate phone (at their expense) for you to use when you are working and not install anything on your personal phone.

[Anonymous]

My guess is they want to use that Find Friends app which doesn't give them access to your phone in any way - it just shows them your location. DH and I use it so that if one of us is running late, etc. and can't come to the phone (happens a lot when we get stuck in meetings etc.) the other can see where you are. You can turn it on and off as well so you can just have it on during work hours.

If you haven't started yet and you are their first nanny, I can see a family wanting to just be able to see if you are home or at the park or wherever. The reality is trust is earned - not handed over to some stranger on the first day with your child. A background check and references only tell you so much - and with the number of threads on here with nannies saying things like "I take my charge to my house all the time and my MB doesn't know but she probably won't care" or "will the time I was arrested for hitting my daughter show up in a background check?" it's not crazy for new parents to be nervous before the relationship is formed.

All that said, you have to decide what you are comfortable with and they have to decide where their lines of comfort are as well, and if they don't overlap, it may just not be a good fit. If you are not comfortable, you can say no, and see what they say. I wouldn't ask my nanny to use an app like that, but then again, until we really got to know each other, she didn't take DC anywhere but the park down the street or to other activities I knew about and/or planned. She now goes lots of places with DC now but she tells me in the mornings what they have planned and then texts me if those plans change, so I do always know where they are. I wouldn't be comfortable with a nanny who viewed my need to know where they are as an invasion of her privacy rather than a legitimate concern about my child's whereabouts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My guess is they want to use that Find Friends app which doesn't give them access to your phone in any way - it just shows them your location. DH and I use it so that if one of us is running late, etc. and can't come to the phone (happens a lot when we get stuck in meetings etc.) the other can see where you are. You can turn it on and off as well so you can just have it on during work hours.

If you haven't started yet and you are their first nanny, I can see a family wanting to just be able to see if you are home or at the park or wherever. The reality is trust is earned - not handed over to some stranger on the first day with your child. A background check and references only tell you so much - and with the number of threads on here with nannies saying things like "I take my charge to my house all the time and my MB doesn't know but she probably won't care" or "will the time I was arrested for hitting my daughter show up in a background check?" it's not crazy for new parents to be nervous before the relationship is formed.

All that said, you have to decide what you are comfortable with and they have to decide where their lines of comfort are as well, and if they don't overlap, it may just not be a good fit. If you are not comfortable, you can say no, and see what they say. I wouldn't ask my nanny to use an app like that, but then again, until we really got to know each other, she didn't take DC anywhere but the park down the street or to other activities I knew about and/or planned. She now goes lots of places with DC now but she tells me in the mornings what they have planned and then texts me if those plans change, so I do always know where they are. I wouldn't be comfortable with a nanny who viewed my need to know where they are as an invasion of her privacy rather than a legitimate concern about my child's whereabouts.

I do understand where they are coming from, which is why I use an app that allows them to see everything we're doing - from diapers and bottles to walks and attending a local story time. 


They also have nanny cams, so if they check in and we're not in view they can always check the app or text/call me.


I have always kept a log for the families I've worked for, and if we were ever going somewhere we'd never been before (or maybe somewhere we rarely went) I made sure to clear it with them and let them know ahead of time. 


My intention isn't to keep them out of the loop, but considering all of the above, I feel like tracking my phone is crossing a line and I'm not comfortable with it. 

[Anonymous]

You mean so the nanny won't go take my kid to her house and plop her in front of the tv for a few hours?

I have not done this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My guess is they want to use that Find Friends app which doesn't give them access to your phone in any way - it just shows them your location. DH and I use it so that if one of us is running late, etc. and can't come to the phone (happens a lot when we get stuck in meetings etc.) the other can see where you are. You can turn it on and off as well so you can just have it on during work hours.

If you haven't started yet and you are their first nanny, I can see a family wanting to just be able to see if you are home or at the park or wherever. The reality is trust is earned - not handed over to some stranger on the first day with your child. A background check and references only tell you so much - and with the number of threads on here with nannies saying things like "I take my charge to my house all the time and my MB doesn't know but she probably won't care" or "will the time I was arrested for hitting my daughter show up in a background check?" it's not crazy for new parents to be nervous before the relationship is formed.

All that said, you have to decide what you are comfortable with and they have to decide where their lines of comfort are as well, and if they don't overlap, it may just not be a good fit. If you are not comfortable, you can say no, and see what they say. I wouldn't ask my nanny to use an app like that, but then again, until we really got to know each other, she didn't take DC anywhere but the park down the street or to other activities I knew about and/or planned. She now goes lots of places with DC now but she tells me in the mornings what they have planned and then texts me if those plans change, so I do always know where they are. I wouldn't be comfortable with a nanny who viewed my need to know where they are as an invasion of her privacy rather than a legitimate concern about my child's whereabouts.

Just to clarify, no one here has said the parents are crazy for wanting to know where OP and the children are. Live tracking an employee's movements is OTT, however, and if they can't summon enough trust to simply text her and ask what they're up to (vs. logging into an app and seeing where they are) these parents need to go with daycare rather than a nanny. If OP's refusal to do this is a deal breaker for them they will never be comfortable enough to be nanny employers.

[Anonymous]

I would tell them that you do not want that sort of app on your personal phone, but that if they wish to buy a smart phone and plan for you to use while working you'd be happy to use the apps they want to install.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My guess is they want to use that Find Friends app which doesn't give them access to your phone in any way - it just shows them your location. DH and I use it so that if one of us is running late, etc. and can't come to the phone (happens a lot when we get stuck in meetings etc.) the other can see where you are. You can turn it on and off as well so you can just have it on during work hours.

If you haven't started yet and you are their first nanny, I can see a family wanting to just be able to see if you are home or at the park or wherever. The reality is trust is earned - not handed over to some stranger on the first day with your child. A background check and references only tell you so much - and with the number of threads on here with nannies saying things like "I take my charge to my house all the time and my MB doesn't know but she probably won't care" or "will the time I was arrested for hitting my daughter show up in a background check?" it's not crazy for new parents to be nervous before the relationship is formed.

All that said, you have to decide what you are comfortable with and they have to decide where their lines of comfort are as well, and if they don't overlap, it may just not be a good fit. If you are not comfortable, you can say no, and see what they say. I wouldn't ask my nanny to use an app like that, but then again, until we really got to know each other, she didn't take DC anywhere but the park down the street or to other activities I knew about and/or planned. She now goes lots of places with DC now but she tells me in the mornings what they have planned and then texts me if those plans change, so I do always know where they are. I wouldn't be comfortable with a nanny who viewed my need to know where they are as an invasion of her privacy rather than a legitimate concern about my child's whereabouts.

I do understand where they are coming from, which is why I use an app that allows them to see everything we're doing - from diapers and bottles to walks and attending a local story time. 


They also have nanny cams, so if they check in and we're not in view they can always check the app or text/call me.


I have always kept a log for the families I've worked for, and if we were ever going somewhere we'd never been before (or maybe somewhere we rarely went) I made sure to clear it with them and let them know ahead of time. 


My intention isn't to keep them out of the loop, but considering all of the above, I feel like tracking my phone is crossing a line and I'm not comfortable with it. 

I am the PP you are responding to. I really don't think it's unreasonable to say this to them. I think my point was more generally that trust is developed, not handed over on the first day and it sounds to me like they are trying to figure that out. Just tell them that you are happy to be in contact all day about where you guys are and what you are doing via regular text updates until they get comfortable and see what they say. Like I said - you have to figure out what you are comfortable with and they have to figure out what they are comfortable with. I don't think it's unreasonable for you not to want to do it and I don't think it's unreasonable for them to want it. After all, if you have nothing to hide and can turn it off every evening, what difference does it make if they know where you are when you are on the clock?

[Anonymous]

You could also offer to do photo updates each day. I send MB a picture when we go out just so she can feel more connected to DC and his experiences. I will say though that the motivation is purely sentimental and she has never asked me to prove my location. My thought is that it may alleviate some of their anxiety about being separated from DC.

[Anonymous]

One of the parents might have an anxiety disorder they're keeping secret.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I see nothing wrong with it. I put a little GPS tracker under our nannies car after she had been working with us for a couple weeks. She has not yet strayed from the expected path between home and school or other places we knew she was going.

You are very mean...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I see nothing wrong with it. I put a little GPS tracker under our nannies car after she had been working with us for a couple weeks. She has not yet strayed from the expected path between home and school or other places we knew she was going.

You are very mean...

You put this on the Nanny's personal car.. or on your own car she uses? I hope you haven't put it on her personal car.. talk about overstepping.

OP I agree with those suggesting the family buy a separate phone for work use, and they can put that app on there. Leave it at work at night.

[Anonymous]

These parents need to do their own parenting.

[Anonymous]

Huge red flag OP.

If a family asked me about this during the interview, I would be out the door in a heartbeat.

This is quite creepy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I see nothing wrong with it. I put a little GPS tracker under our nannies car after she had been working with us for a couple weeks. She has not yet strayed from the expected path between home and school or other places we knew she was going.

Wow...People like you need to stay home and raise your own darn kids for God's sake.

All the time invested in tracking your nanny should be spent on taking care of your own kids instead of outsourcing this to people you obviously do not trust.

[Anonymous]

Lots of disfunctional parents out there. Beware.